Pro wakeskater makes a 'miraculous' recovery after being electrocuted by 14,000 VOLTS

Pro wakeskater makes a 'miraculous' recovery after being electrocuted by 14,000 VOLTS - the equivalent of six electric chairs - in near-deadly accident that MELTED his skin down to the bone and charred his muscles

A professional wakeskater who was electrocuted by a voltage that is equivalent to six electric chairs has defied doctors who said he likely wouldn't survive the accident by returning to his beloved watersports, despite 25 per cent of his skin melting off in the horrific incident.

Matt Manzari, 31, from Florida, has been wakeskating and wakeboarding since a young age, and was even endorsed by Nike at the age of 15 - becoming the first ever wakeskater to land a partnership with the brand.

However in 2014, his life changed completely when he was electrocuted by a powerline while trimming the trees at his local church - an accident that left him with horrific injuries, and which many felt would keep him away from the water forever.

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The incident occurred shortly after the former watersports pro graduated from the University of Tennessee and began working with his local church group in June 2014. Weeks later, he offered to trim the trees surrounding the church. 

Unbeknownst to Matt, he went about the task with the wrong equipment, using a remote controlled bucket truck with a steel bucket instead of one made from fiberglass.

 As he reached the canopy level of the trees, a nearby powerline sent a surge of electricity through the metal bucket he was standing in, causing 14,000 volts to tear through Matt's body. 

Electric chairs use between 2,000 and 2,200 volts - meaning that Matt's body was subjected to the equivalent of six or seven of them. 

Members of the church - including Matt's pregnant wife Bobbye Jean, now 30, who had been working inside the building while her husband was outside - rushed to his aid, but found him in a terrible condition.  

The electricity had melted Matt's skin - leaving his ribs and collar bone completely exposed. 

He has suffered fourth and fifth degree burns across 25 per cent of his body, meaning that the electricity had actually charred his flesh in places, and had even burnt through ligaments and muscles.

Bobbye Jean and Matt's parents were told that Matt was very unlikely to live to see the next day, but miraculously Matt managed to survive the night. 

Furthermore, doctors told Matt's parents that the amputation of his arms was very likely due to how severe the burns were.

Matt spent the next week in a coma but even after waking up, Matt stood a high percentage chance of contracting sepsis which could have been life threatening due to the amount of skin he had lost and his proneness to infection.

Once again, Matt beat the odds and spent the next three months in hospital undergoing more than 70 surgeries for his injuries including the removal of burnt muscle and tendons in his upper arms and chest, and later skin grafts over his neck, arms, and chest.

Matt's recovery has been a slow and painful process with the regeneration of his damaged nerves being excruciating - something that still causes him ongoing discomfort to this day. 

But the father-of-two has made the unlikeliest of recoveries and has even been able to return to wakeskating, something that would have seemed impossible following his accident.

'I started wakeskating and before I knew it, I was sponsored by Nike and traveling the world doing what I loved at the age of 15,' said Matt.

I was living my childhood dream and even became the world wakeskating champion.

'Although travelling and doing what I loved was amazing, it felt like there was a lot of smoke and mirrors when I reached the top of my sport.

'I felt that my calling from God was to go into ministry and so I enrolled in a theology course at the University of Tennessee.

'A door opened and I was asked to come into a ministry and teach inner city kids how to water ski, wakeboard, and wakeskate.

'One week after joining, I was trimming trees at a local church and a power line arched over to the metal bucket I was standing in.

'The electricity shocked through me and caused fourth and fifth degree burns which melted most of the skin off of my chest and arms, going deep enough to kill muscle and bone.

'They could see my rib cage and my sternum.

'My wife was working inside the church and after holding her back until the ambulance got there, they finally told her she should say goodbye because they didn't think I was going to make it.

'They rushed me into emergency surgery and I was in a coma but alive. My family was told that if I ever woke up, I would not be the Matt they knew.

'They said that amount of voltage definitely gave me brain damage, they just didn't know how severe. The trauma of that much voltage should have stopped my heart.

'It was the equivalent of being strapped to six electric chairs and them all being turned on. Miraculously, a few days later, I woke up from the coma and began to speak.

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